Notes Mary Mortimer was born in Midhope Stones, a village 11 miles northeast of Sheffield, on September 21, 1873. She was the eldest of three children of Eliza Hannah (formerly Milsom) and Charles James Jones Frederick Mortimer, who was the village schoolmaster. Charles was also a Chelsea Pensioner with 20+ years in the Royal Engineers, where he was trained as a civil engineer. Mary's sister Emma (also a BHC) was about two years youner, and her brother, Freddy, four years younger. In 1881, the family seems to have fallen on hard times and moved to Leeds, where they occupied a small apartment near the public dispensary on New Briggate. In September 1881, Mary's mother died in childbirth, and her father turned to drink. According to family lore, their mother's family wanted to take Mary and Emma to live with them, but Charles, embittered by their treatment of him, insisted that the girls be sent to Canada to live with friends. We now know that Mary and Emma spent some time in the Wortley Union Workhouse and were in Miss Rye's party of 58 girls who sailed from Liverpool on the Parisian, arriving in Quebec on November 2, 1884. Mary and Emma were placed with different families in Ontario, Emma with Angus and Eliza McNaughton on a farm in Oxmead, and Mary with Thomas and MaryAnn McCarroll in Meaford. Thomas was a druggist. Emma stayed with the McNaughtons until and learned to be a dressmaker. Mary ran away, probably to Toronto or Buffalo. She lied about her age to work as a domestic servant. In 1896, she she met and married an Englishman, Alfred Vosper who was a head waiter at the Iroquois Hotel in Buffalo New York. Not too long after, they moved to New York City. Mary and Alfred worked waiting tables. Their daughter, Hazel, was born in Manhattan in 1898. Within a few years Alfred became ill and had to be hospitalized. He died in 1905. Mary moved to New Jersey. She sent her daughter to an Episcopal girl's boarding school in Asbury Park. With a friend, she opened a small tearoom. In about 1909, Mary came down with typhoid fever. Her doctor advised her to make arrangements for her daughter in case she didn't survive. She sent Hazel across the country to Pasadena, CA to live with her sister, Emma. She joined them in about 1912. There she met and married Glenn McKay, a marriage that lasted until Glenn passed away in 1964. Mary and Glenn lived in several places in California and Nevada. Glenn was a farmer, miner, and building contractor. Glenn and Mary lived in several places in California and Nevada. At one point, they took in Glenn's orphaned twin nephews and raised them as their own. Mary died in Capitola, CA in 1971 at the age of 97. She was survived by her sister Emma, daughter, Hazel McChrystal, three grandchildren, fourteen great grandchildren and a nephew (Emma's son). Despite the barriers imposed by the BHC program, she managed to stay connected with her sister throughout her life, and, though she never saw him again, had written contact with her brother, Freddy.
Contributors Created : 2011-02-26 11:15:26 / From original database
Family History Researchers RootsChatters with family connections to Mary Louisa Milsom Jones MORTIMER: 
MORTIMER, Arthur L.